On Wednesday evening the First XI Boys Hockey team played the final of the Auckland Schools Competition against arch rivals Auckland Grammar School. As it was also the first meeting of the two teams for the season, the much-coveted Birchall Shield was also in play.
With the match being held at King’s, our boys had the backing of a large and vocal group of King’s supporters, creating a great atmosphere for the team to play in. The game was played at a high intensity, with the action happening on both ends of the turf. King’s made a couple of very good chances early on in the match but were unfortunately unable to convert them.
Our team worked extremely hard, with Year 13 players Harrison Langrell-Read (Greenbank), Nikesh Lala (Greenbank), and Kalpesh Morar (Selwyn) all playing strong games. Year 10 student Aidan Fraser (Averill) also turned in an impressive performance playing in central defence.
As the clock ticked down the desperation from each side was clear to see. Despite having more possession and some promising attacking positions, the King’s team could not crack the Grammar defence.
With just two minutes left on the clock it seemed that the game would be heading for a penalty shootout. In a rare foray into the King’s goalmouth Auckland Grammar managed to get a clean shot on goal and the ball slammed in to the backboard to give them a 1-0 lead and sealing the final score.
Head of Sport Jim Potts says, despite the loss this was another strong performance from our First XI Boys.
“They can be proud of the fight they showed. The Hockey they are playing now is almost unrecognisable from the team that played during the pre-season tournament at St Paul’s. If the team keep improving at the rate they have shown over the past few weeks they will be a very competitive unit by the time the Rankin Cup Tournament comes around.”
Next week will see the start of the Super City competition and we wish the boys the best of luck for the rest of the season.
